Faith is fragile. It grows slowly but can fade quickly. And once it’s gone, it’s hard to get back. I think about faith as I try to rekindle mine by returning to church.

On Sunday, my spiritual and secular concerns were in step when the Gospel spoke about persistence in the pursuit of justice—the day after I joined seven million fellow Americans in the No Kings protest of Saturday, October 18th.

It was our Irish priest who read the parable from Luke, Chapter 18, verses one through eight, about a persistent widow and an unjust judge.

In a melodic brogue, he softly spoke the words of Jesus: “There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, ‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’”

“For a long time the judge was unwilling,” Jesus continued, “but eventually he thought, ‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me, I shall deliver a just verdict for her, lest she finally come and strike me.’”

I thought about the parable after Mass. I had read news reports dismissing the protest. “I think it’s a joke,” the President said, brushing off the protesters as “not representative of this country… And by the way, I’m not a king.”

Why, then, did the White House post pictures of President Trump and Vice President Vance wearing crowns and seated on thrones?

Nearly 250 years ago, George Washington and the Continental Army fought for eight years to defeat a king and create a democracy.

Millions of Americans turned out to defend that democracy on October 18th. Like the widow in the parable, we must be ready to do so again—until the man with no respect for anyone or anything gets the message. No Kings.